“Last time on Withstander: Corvidae Islands!” Pinkie Pie said. “CMTR lost a swimming challenge because half their team were foals, so they voted off Sweetie Belle since she sucked the most. Who will be metaphorically killed this week on Withstander?!”

“This don’t look good,” Applejack said.

“Butterscotch is holding my leg and rubbing her muzzle into it?” Big Mac said.

“That too. But Ah’m just cookin’ this rice an’ Ah don’t think we have enough.”

“So smaller rations?”

“We just won’t feed Butterscotch.”

Big Mac looked down at Butterscotch. “How did you get in before Fluttershy?”

“Why? Do you wuv her?”

“Eeeeenope....”

“Ah heard an ellipsis,” Applejack said. “Tell the truth.”

“So what if I have something for her?”

“Whah? Have you ever even met?”

“A lot of ponies have love interests they haven’t met before.”

“That just leaves one question, then: whah?”

“Because of personality matching compatibility times.”

“It seems random to me.”

“Do you have a problem with me loving Fluttershy?”

“Ah don’t think you actually love ‘er anyway, you just have a little crush.”

“I’ll tell her how I feel. If she doesn’t love me, I’ll forget about it.”

“Ah still don’ understand where the hell this came from all of a sudden, but fahne. You’re gonna get over this in lahke a day anyway.”

“hELLO!” Pinkie said. “aND WELCOME TO THE MANDATORY PUZZLE CHALLENGE!”

“Aren’t the swimmin’ an’ puzzle challenges usually just one?” Applejack said.

“yES, INDEED THEY ARE! bUT WE ARE DIFFERENT! dEVIANT! uNUSUAL! fOR THIS CHALLENGE, YOU MUST SOLVE MY MAZE A 900-PIECE JIGSAW PUZZLE! tO ASSIST YOUR SOLVATION, THE COMPLETED PUZZLE PICTURES A PHRASE IN SANSKRIT. nOW PLEASE DETARP YOUR PUZZLE TABLES.”

Twilight and Lyra magicked the tarps off their respective tables.

“wITHSTANDERS READY?!”

“Yeah!”

“gO!”

Twilight solved the puzzle in three seconds.

“pzge JVA VAIHYARENOVYVGL!”

CMTR cheered wildly.

“CNYXXVBFV!” She detarped an implied table. “A choice between two hundred litres of water or two bags of brown rice!”

CMTR huddled for a few seconds.

“We want water,” Twilight said.

“Then you can take it! I don’t know how you’ll transport it all, but Jambalaya managed it!”

“Ah can’t believe we actually lost a challenge,” Applejack said, making the leadership complex the game was giving her even more evident.

“We know who to vote off,” Big Mac said, looking down at Butterscotch.

“I think we should vote off Lyra,” Butterscotch said. “Octavia’s smart, you and AJ and I are all athletic, camerapony #3 will probably get some dumb bilingual pun, but what’s Lyra good for? And don’t say magic, that’s favouring her because she’s a unicorn and that’s racism.”

Applejack and Big Mac looked at each other from Butterscotch.

“So we’re voting off Butterscotch?” Lyra said.

“There’s no other choice,” camerapony #3 said.

“I think it’s the only reasonable decision,” Octavia said.

“Welcome to Teamal Council,” Pinkie said. “I have a problem with my computer.”

“Rub some bacon on it,” Applejack said.

“Good discussion. Now vote.”

“You’re fuckin’ useless,” Applejack said about her vote.

“I’m sorry, but you don’t have a purpose in the team,” Lyra said.

“Nopony would care if you died,” camerapony #3 said.

“I’ll tally the votes,” Pinkie said before retrieving the votes. “If you get the most votes, you’re out. Now I’ll actually tally the votes instead of getting them. First vote: Butterscotch.”

Butterscotch started biting her nonexistent nails.

“Second vote: Lyra.”

Lyra suddenly became unable to stay perfectly still due to consciousness of her body parts.

“Butterscotch.”

“Butterscotch.”

Butterscotch regulated her breathing a bit.

“Third pony voted off Withstander: Corvidae Islands: Butterscotch.”

Butterscotch walked up to Pinkie.

“Butterscotch, all your friends hate you.”

And so Butterscotch, who still needs a two-syllable name, left the game.

“Well, you had to vote off Butterscotch,” Pinkie said, “But really, who cares? Good night.”

“I can’t believe everypony voted for me,” Butterscotch said, “Even Big Mac. He seemed to like me when he came to the club. Oh well, I’m sure he didn’t mean it, it’s just a game. He likes me, but he’s not going to let me stay in just because he likes me. It was the right thing.”

Next Chapter: Chapter 115: Faust of the Rings Estimated time remaining: 10 Hours, 10 Minutes